


Midsummer Night's Shared Dream

by Vivien



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bugs & Insects, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 18:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivien/pseuds/Vivien
Summary: “We’re not on an approved airfield, but look,” she held out her datapad with the map of the crash location. “Xa-Tla City is on the other side of this forest. We can make it there on foot, and, if we start now, we’ll get there before the solstice celebration begins.”Kylo lifted a mocking eyebrow. “You’d risk the spirits of the forest?”Rey scoffed. “I don’t believe in ghosts. Let’s start walking.”





	Midsummer Night's Shared Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a "Midsummer Night's Dream" romp and it turned into a shared dream experience with the creepy Gentry standing in for fairies. I really enjoyed writing this and playing with formatting to reflect the dreaming.

The cabin of the small cruiser resonated with the tonal music of Tillarian fruit toads. Only Rey could find such a recording, and only she would repeat it – twice – on the journey to their latest mission. Rey collected and listened to everything from Coruscanti opera to folk chants of the Gungans of Naboo to – well, to this very strange and almost hypnotic croaking.

Rey had been his partner for about a year now, carrying out missions of varying objectives, usually regarding diplomacy efforts, identifying and recruiting new Force users, or mopping up the jagged remains of First Order - generally doing the right thing by the Galaxy. 

Not that Kylo, or Ben, as he was called by some once again, knew what that was. Not that he’d properly atoned for the crimes he’d committed, the wrongs he’d done in his blind service to Snoke. But as his mother, who had made it possible for him to slip back into the persona of a man who no longer existed, had said, locking her eyes on his when he’d confessed he didn’t know how to make things right, “Put one foot in front of the other. Follow Rey’s lead. There is light in you that never went away. Let it flow.”

It wasn’t very helpful advice at the time. But he did as she said, and, thankfully, he and Rey were busy. Very busy. Too busy to think about much besides the missions. Rey handled the logistical details, while relying on Kylo to gather the intel necessary. They had fallen into this pattern quickly. Their partnership was strictly business.

The continuous music in the cabin began at the start of their assigned partnership. It filled in the silence, often awkward, that the two discovered fell between them most of the time. They could talk about missions, but anything else? It was easier for Rey to turn on some music and not try. She raised her finger to press repeat on the recording once more.

“Please, Rey, no,” Kylo grumbled, looking up from his datapad. “I’ll pay you _credits_. Anything.”

“Hush, or I’ll play the Ewok wedding festival recording again.” Rey scowled, but it wasn’t a full scowl. It was more a “this is how we interact when we don’t know how to do anything else” facial expression of convenience.

Kylo groaned and rolled his eyes, and Rey dialed up a new recording. She pressed play on a collection of Corellian popular music that was much less provocative or interesting than the Tillarian fruit toads. Her partner was ridiculous and ridiculously annoying, but sometimes, she took pity on him. It was the right thing to do.

“We’re just about there, at any rate,” she said, preparing the ship for the jump out of hyperspace.

Whenever Rey made the jump, her nose scrunched up in concentration as she waited for the optimal moment. Kylo knew this because he watched her from the corner of his eye every single time she did it. Like the fruit toads, it was hypnotic, compelling, and terribly annoying.

The stars stopped zooming past and a large green planet wreathed in grey and lavender cloud formations loomed before them. 

“There we are,” she said, and when she glanced over at him, Kylo gaze was fixed onto the view screen of his datapad. “Xla-ta-karia.” 

“World of Many Dreaming,” Kylo replied, giving the planet’s name its Basic translation.  

“This ought to be pretty easy. The planetary government seems eager to join the Republic again. Tell me again what the warnings were?”

 “Superstitious nonsense,” Kylo mumbled, shifting in his seat. 

Kylo knew that, when it came down to the hard facts, Rey was his keeper, and not simply his easily irked, overly attractive partner. She was only here because it was her duty and she had to be, according to the terms of his surrender and transition, as he put that proverbial foot in front of the other and trudged this long, confusing path. Research gave him something to focus on, and he delved into the minutia of the planets to which they were sent to keep his eyes from following her every movement.

“We’re to beware of the forests,” he continued, “especially during daylight, and to land only on clearly marked airfields. Hungry spirits haunt the forests, and humanoids tend to vanish if they step foot within the trees, especially with the additional hours of daylight during the summer solstice cycle. This world depends on the darkness for safety, it would seem.”  He made an approving click of his tongue and darted a glance towards her.

Rey rolled her eyes in return. “Weird. So it must be a love/hate kind of thing, then, this festival. It was important enough to request official Republic emissaries for it, but it sounds like having the sun out for a whole planetary cycle isn’t ideal for them. What with spirits and all.”

“It only comes around every fifteen years,” he reasoned. “It’s something rare enough to be celebrated, even if it causes problems.”

“Fifteen years of more sun and fifteen years of less,” she said, pondering. “I can’t imagine a night that long.”

“Their culture revolves around sleeping and dreaming,” he said, “and encouraging ridiculous mythologies.”

“Oh, stop. Just because people believe in things you don’t doesn’t mean those beliefs aren’t valid. I expect the Force is strong here.”

“And the beds comfortable,” he mused.

For some reason that both escaped and annoyed her greatly, Rey felt her cheeks turn pink.

Kylo’s face, in turn, went white. He cleared his throat and desperately fiddled with the climate controls to keep from looking in her direction.

Rey was saved from further embarrassment  by lights flashing on the console and alarms blaring. Her fingers skirted over the control panel. 

“Um. Hmm. That shouldn’t be happening. I checked over the ship myself before we left.”

“What?” He sat up straighter, not alarmed, but ready to do as she said. Rey was far more competent with repairs than he ever dreamed of being, and though this was not the Falcon – he wouldn’t roam the galaxy with Rey in that ship; it would hurt too much – the memory of his father was freshly present. Like Han, Rey viewed mechanical failure as a challenge to rise above, not something to worry her.

Except, as the ship bucked upon hitting the atmosphere, she seemed worried.

“It’s a systems failure,” she explained, her brows furrowed. “I knew I should have replaced those components, but they tested within normal parameters.” She banged her fist down on the control panel in frustration. “It’s going to be a rough landing.”

“That sounds like an understatement,” he said, bracing himself. “How rough?”

“If we don’t use the Force, rough enough to not worry about anything any more.”

“I’m not dying in a common ship crash,” he scoffed. Then he closed his eyes, knowing she would as well. Sure enough, he felt the chasm between them close as they reached out to the Force, together, and become – oh, so much vaster than who they were alone.

\--

Despite her scowls and banter, Rey trusted Kylo Ren. Or Ben Solo. He came back to them as Ben Solo, long missing son found. It rankled her, at first, that he was allowed back into the fold with such ease, but he had earned it. She had been witness to that in the deep cavern where they took down Snoke side-by-side and ended the war.

Besides, it made Leia happy, and Rey quickly discovered that making Leia happy was a gift worth the sacrifice.

He was not the partner she’d have picked to explore the Galaxy with, making things right planet by planet, but he’s the one she ended up with, and she trusted him. She’d grown accustomed to his snarky comments, his low voice, his dark good looks that she did her very best to ignore while appreciating on a surface level. As an ally, he had never let her down.

He wouldn’t now, as they hurtled through the atmosphere and joined their power together to wrap around the small craft that was, essentially, their home. Between the Force and her piloting skills, they would land without too much damage. She hoped.

And then they’d carry on. As they always did.

\--

The landing was rough, but they made it. The ship barely did.

“Yeah,” Rey sighed, running her hand along the crumpled metal of the wrecked shuttle as she walked around it, assessing the damage. It was a little scary to think they’d walked away from this. Thank the Force. “She won’t be flying any time soon.”

“Comms are down,” Kylo said, checking and rechecking to see if he could raise a channel through his monitor.

“We’re not on an approved airfield, but look,” she held out her datapad with the map of the crash location. “Xa-Tla City is on the other side of this forest. We can make it there on foot, and, if we start now, we’ll get there before the solstice celebration begins.”

Kylo lifted a mocking eyebrow. “You’d risk the spirits of the forest?”

Rey scoffed. “I don’t believe in ghosts. Let’s start walking.”

The trees of the forest were tall and close, penning them in as soon as they stepped within the borders. There was no birdsong, but Rey didn’t know whether that was normal or not. While the trunks of the gray-barked trees grew side by side, the branches at the top of the forest canopy spread out wide, letting the sun in. While there were patches of shade, their way was well lit.

“This is pretty creepy,” Rey said, skirting around a larger trunk that blocked the minimal path they’d found. There wasn’t room to walk abreast, and they took turns leading and following as they wended deeper into the woods.

“It’s just a forest,” Kylo said, “on a planet where people like to make up stories from their dreams.”

“If we see any spirits, you be sure to tell _them_ that.”

Kylo snorted out a strangled ghost of a laugh, and Rey grinned to herself. She slipped under a fallen tree limb, remembering a night a lifetime ago when her saber would have slashed through it as her feet slipped in snow. Her grin faded, as it always did when she remembered how… complex their partnership was.

As they hiked through the quiet forest, their footsteps the only sound, the treetops above them grew lighter. The air sparkled and shimmered as the far up branches swayed in breezes that never reached the ground. Thousands of tiny orange-yellow lights wafted down from the trees. Rey stopped Kylo, placing a hand on his forearm. He looked at her, puzzled, and then followed her gaze up. The sunlight shone through the treetops, and the lights sparkled like oversized dust motes. A cloud – or was it a swarm? – hovered above them, and as they watched, it began twisting and writhing on itself. Shapes like open mouthed, staring faces appeared and dissolved and came lower, lower.

Kylo looked back to Rey, and as one they ignited their lightsabers and took up a fighting stance. 

“I don’t suppose you have more information on these ‘hungry spirits’ of the forest,” Rey said, the blue light of her saber reflecting in her eyes as she tracked the wobbling movement of the descending cloud.  

“The folklore says the Gentry descend on the unwary in a multitude, and they steal their lives and their dreams away,” Kylo replied, stifling a yawn. 

“Good thing we’re wary then,” Rey said, before she returned the yawn. “No kriffing way,” she began, her suddenly sticky eyes blinking. 

“It’s… their energy field,” Kylo said, “or a sound frequency making us--” He yawned again and staggered a step close towards Rey. 

Her arm drooped as she tried moving forward with sheer effort of stubborn will. Kylo extinguished his lightsaber and rubbed his eyes, desperate to follow. 

“I can’t—“ she bit out, the lightsaber dropping from her limp hand. She closed her eyes, as the sparkling cloud sank down towards its prey. She reached her hand out to Kylo. 

As blackness rapidly encroached upon him, he caught up to Rey, wrapping an arm around her waist as she crumpled to the ground, asleep. He fell with her, his body shielding hers as they sank to the mossy ground. 

~~~

Rey strides down a corridor of the Finalizer, her saber staff strapped to her back. Stormtroopers part the way for her, showing the due deference she – a Knight of Ren – deserves. She’d been plucked from Jakku by the Lord of her order and brought here to serve. One day, she would be the one in charge. She’d see Kylo Ren bow to her before too long. 

Not that she never sees him grovel for her, begging for more of her body after their sparring sessions inevitably lead to frenetic sex on the floor or against a wall. 

Rey smiles a sly smile and heads for the sparring chamber. He’ll be there waiting for her. She knows this as sure as she knows that sand is coarse and too much heat can fell the strongest of souls. 

In the distance, she hears the CLANK CLANK of the steelpeckers at work.

_They’ll breach the hull one of these days if they’re not watched_

Indeed, he’s there when she opens the door, dressed in black, masked, saber ignited.

_I am me, but I’m also him, and I feel the emptiness inside him, the loneliness within me_

“Knight Rey,” his voice rattles through the modulator. “I see you’re ready to be trounced, as usual.” 

She laughs, shrugging off her outer robe and letting it pool at her feet. She wears tight leggings and a top with no sleeves, and the muscles of her arms flex as she wields her staff.  She watches him watch her, one eyebrow lifted. “We’ll see.” 

She moves like a dancer into her forms, her teeth rattling as Kylo’s saber clashes with her blades again and again and again. He never holds back. She would never want him to.

_CLANK CLANK CLANK_  

Rey frowns, faltering, and the second of hesitation is all Lord Ren needs to push her back, back, back, her shoulders pressing against the cold durasteel of the wall. Their blades lock, and they’re bathed in red light.  

She may have lost this fight, but she will win the war. 

“Ruin me, Lord Ren,” she taunts, purring into his ear .

With a growl, he throws down his saber and wrenches off his mask. She throws back her head in delight, laughing as his gloved hands wrap around her biceps and his soft, hot mouth crushes against hers. This surrender, the dive into madness and passion, it fills her with delightful dark flames and buoys her up and up and up as his fingers and lips elicit gasps from her. 

It feels so good to let go. To stop thinking and just act. Want, take, have. 

They fuck up against the wall, sharp teeth on slick skin, hisses punctuating thrusts.  He feels so _right_ inside her, filling her, pinning her here as she wraps her legs around his thick, muscular body. Her climax shudders through her, surprising her with how ethereal it feels in this place, and it leaves her fluttering and flustered.

This place is not one she knows. This man is not the man she knows.

_But the emptiness inside she knows, oh, she knows_

“This isn’t right. Lord Ren- no, you’re Kylo. What is this?” 

“I don’t know what you’re raving about.” 

“This isn’t real. I’m dreaming. We’re dreaming. We have to wake up, because…” she trails off. She doesn’t know why she feels this urgency but she knows something is terribly wrong. His hands stroke her arms, and they are somewhere else.

There is a soft bed, warm covers, and this is still not the man she knows - and in her secret heart would like to know better - but he is a much closer version.

“Tell me a story,” he says, eyes dark, focused on her, his hair spreading across the pillow. He looks soft, beautiful, in this light, watching her like she is the only person who matters in the Galaxy.

_He looks at you this way. You’ve seen when he thought you weren’t watching._

“There was a boy,” she says, her fingers trailing through his hair. “A boy who didn’t know what to do. A boy who heard voices and wished for things he could not have.”

_So lonely_

“He learned what he was told, and did what he was told, and, at night, all alone, he listened to stories of glory and power. But these stories were lies, and they twisted him, turning him into a shell of misery. There was only fire and blood, betrayal and pain.”

 Kylo Ren nods, and she wipes a tear from his cheek.

“But that wasn’t how the story ended.”

He kisses her again, softly, gently, slowly, but it’s still not – this isn’t real. She takes his shoulders and shakes him hard.

“At the end, the boy woke up.”

~~~

Rey’s eyes fluttered open and blinked in the orange glow of the Gentry as they fed. Her exposed skin stung with prickly bites. She tried to move her hand, to wave the creatures away, but her arm was too heavy. Kylo was a solid presence against her back, his arms sheltering her. She whimpered, tried to move once more, and then she was pulled down once again into stillness. Kylo hugged her close in his sleep.

~~~

It’s hot in the desert. It’s always been hot, it will always be hot, just as Ben has always been here, on Jakku, scrabbling out a living with the other scavengers. He pries the dusty metal panels away from the emulator deep within the bowels of the hammerhead corvette he discovered under shifting sands the day before. Someone with nimble fingers might be able to coax the emulator out without ripping out panels, and, of course, his mind goes to Rey.

_His mind always goes to Rey._

What he lacks in small, nimble fingers he makes up for with brute strength, and the metal gives way with an echoing shriek. Exposed, the emulator pops out easily enough. This will be worth at least three portions, maybe more, and with the rest of his haul, he’ll have enough food to relax for a time.

He tucks the emulator into his leather sack and looks up. Everything’s gone quiet. No steelpeckers rattling on metal, no breeze whistling through the ship’s carcass. Ben hurries to his rope and scrambles up onto a slanted deck where he can see outside.

The _X'us'R'iia_ coils on the horizon, dark clouds of dust billowing upwards. Ben curses and hurries to his hoard, piling it all onto his speeder.  He could stay here, sheltered within the old ship, but he only has enough portions with him for one more day, and he’s nearly out of water. He hadn’t expected to spend the last two days working and sleeping here, and the rewards for staying had outweighed any concerns over storms or rations.

He should be able to make it back to the cave where his parents raised him. Hopefully. Maybe.

If not, Rey’s AT-AT is on the way home. She’s never been friendly – no one here is – but he knows her well enough to seek out her shelter in a storm. He’s fairly sure she won’t turn him away.

He’s not sure at all, to be honest. But maybe he’ll get home before that’s even necessary. He mounts the speeder, looking over his shoulder. It’s no longer silent. He can hear the wind clashing against sand. It’s a shivery sound, and his stomach tightens. If he gets caught in this, all of his scavenging will have been for nothing.

Ben can barely make out the bulky outline of the fallen AT-AT. The storm has nearly caught up to him. His mouth is dry and his heart pounds in his chest. He anchors the speeder, magnetic struts attaching to the metal leg, and stumbles to the door to Rey’s home. Pounding on it, he calls out, “Rey, It’s Ben. Ben Solo. I can’t beat the storm. Please let me in.”

Coughing as the blowing grit invades his mouth, he contemplates what to do if she doesn’t answer. She’ll kill him for trespassing, but with a choice between death at Rey’s hands or slow suffocation in this dust storm, he’ll take Rey.

The panel slips open and he sees her face, the familiar scowl firmly in place.

_They’ve found each other in a storm other times._

“Idiot,” she says, and then she gives an annoyed jerk of her head and steps back to let him in.

“Thanks. I have my own rations. I won’t take any of your food.”

“Good, because I won’t share any of it,” she grumbles and returns to her seat at her scavenged Y-wing computer set up, and begins a flight simulator program, ignoring him completely.

“I’ll just…” he trails off, looking for a place to sit. Hopefully the storm will blow over quickly. Some last for hours, some last for days. He’s hoping for the former as he wedges his body against a metal bulwark trying to find comfort.

CLINK CLANK CLANK

Huh. The steelpeckers aren’t bothered by the Breath of R’iia, it would seem.

Ben watches Rey from across the dark space they share. The power fails, eventually the backup generator giving out despite Rey’s coaxing. They sit in her main living area, listening to the wind. His fingers trace over scratch marks carved into the wall, counting days that will never come back.

_I am me, but I am her, too, and I know the emptiness inside her, the loneliness inside me_

He shivers under the thin canvas sheet he covers himself with in the dark hulk of the AT-AT and waits.

_Should it be this cold?_

Something warm and soft curls up next to him. “Tell me a story,” Rey whispers in his ear. She’s come to him. She always ends up coming to him, even if it takes days and days of persistence on his part. She’s worth it.

“I’ll tell you the story of my uncle, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi warrior.”

“Not the sad one,” she says, slipping under the sheet to huddle close to him.

“No,” he agrees. He wraps an arm around her shoulders, and she snuggles up to him. “Not the last one. I’ll tell one of the first ones. The one where he and my father met my mother.”

Rey likes this story. She nestles in closer, and he can feel her smile as she presses her cheek against his shoulder.

The story shifts from words to slow, halting movements as they seek each other’s bodies. Tension coils within him, but his focus is on her, the sounds she makes, the taste of her on his tongue. They’re in a bunk on a ship he doesn’t know. The hyperspace trails blur past the small portal beside them.  The softness of the bed coverings is nothing compared to the softness of her bare skin.

_He wants this to be real. He wants this to be real. He wants this to be real._

But it’s not, and it hurts, and he’s on the bridge in the darkness, and this time, it’s his heart that’s skewered by the lightsaber, and it’s her face he sees, and her hand on his cheek, and then he’s falling, falling—

_falling_

~~~

In the clearing in the woods, Kylo woke with a start. He _hurts_. These creatures – the Gentry, the spirits, whatever they are - bored into his skin, feeding off of him. He thrashed one arm out, trying to fight even as he pulled Rey closer to him.  The sun shone lower through the trees, but it still shone brightly. The glowing creatures swarmed him until his body stilled again.                                                    

~~~

 

The room is soft and warm, the walls pale yellow, and the late afternoon sun streams in through the picture window. Ben --

_In dreams, he can be Ben again_

 

\-- holds a warm bundle in his arms. The weight is comfort, the soft blankets wrap around a sleeping baby.

_My son. This is my son._

 

The baby sighs in his arms, eyes blinking open once and then closing, as his fuzzy head nuzzles against Ben’s chest. His son. This is his home.

 

He looks out the window. They’re on a mountainside, evergreen trees growing high into blue sky. The vista beyond is one of sagebrush and cacti, a desert landscape.  Ben can hear water, though, as a creek babbles down the mountain, fed from the melting snows from higher up.

 

_Home._

 

In one corner of the long living room, there is a work table with tools and devices, gears and circuits spilling over the metal jars in which they should be kept. On the wall are countless nooks with holocrons and ancient books.

There is a tight space behind his sternum that fills with a calm that wriggles and flutters, making more room for itself. He breathes deeply; he’d forgotten what this - what hope - felt like.

A little girl in bright blue runs into the room. “Daddy, Daddy,” she cries. “I made you a present at school!” She holds out a stuffed tooka cat dripping with glitter.

The baby is awake now, sitting in Ben’s lap as his big sister coos over him.

“Where’s your mother?” Ben asks the beautiful girl.

 

_She has Rey’s eyes._

 

Rey walks into the room. Her face bears the fine lines from worried scowls and frowns, but there are smile lines there, too.

“How’s the baby?”

“Better,” he replies. The baby has been ill – only a cold, but they worry. They’re far from any other people; their daughter’s trip to school in the valley takes nearly two hours all told.

But this is home, and they’re happy here. So happy.

Rey sits beside him, as their daughter runs through the room with streamers flying in colored stripes behind her. Rey takes the baby, who has his father’s ears, Ben notes with some dismay.

The little boy laughs and Rey does, too, and then he hears his daughter’s giggles.  These are the most beautiful sounds in his world.

 

CLINK CLANK CLINK

 

The birds are always loud here, high up and far from anything.

 

_You know why you hear that._

 

_I don’t want to know_.

 

He’s standing on the deck, watching the creek rushing by. Rey walks up behind him, reaching her arms around him to embrace him. Her cheek is against his back, and he feels her lips move as she begins speaking.

 

“It’s beautiful here.”

 

“It’s home,” he replies, covering her hands with his.

 

“It’s not real. We have to wake up.”

 

“No,” he snarls, striding back into the soft light of the living room. “No. I’m not leaving. The children-- _Our_ children—“

 

The baby is a toddler now, and he sits against the couch, banging his hand on a  toy drum. Their little girl sings a song in the other room, a song about a moon.

 

_Mirrorbright, shines the moon, its glow as soft as an ember_

_When the moon is mirrorbright, take this time to remember_

_Those you have loved but are gone_

_Those who kept you so safe and warm_

 

It is not his daughter’s voice who sings the song.

 

Ben shakes his head and sits at the kitchen table. Rey sits across from him.

 

“This is what you want? Truly?” she asks, puzzled.

 

“I never wanted to be alone,” he replies. “Ever.”

 

“A loving family, a snug home. We’re far away from everything but close enough when we need to be.”

 

“The children are happy. _We’re_ happy. We don’t have to leave this.” He pounds his fist on the table in frustration. “We deserve this.”

 

“Maybe, but not yet. We have—there are things we still have to do. Out there.” She’s behind him again, her arms gentle around his neck, her lips kissing his head through graying hair.

 

“I love you,” he finally says, because she’s right. This is a dream, and in dreams he can be Ben and he can tell Rey he loves her. “You know that, don’t you?”

 

“I’d figured that out, yeah.”

 

They stand beside the creek in the moonlight. The children are sleeping, safe and warm, as he was once upon a time and as she never was.

 

“Do you even like me?” The side of his hand brushes hers.

 

“More than I ever let on,” she admits. She takes his hand. “You’re mine, aren’t you?”

 

He nods.

 

Rey sighs, and she stretches up to place a soft kiss on his cheek. “I’ve looked inside you on board your old ship.”

 

“I’ve looked inside you in your old home on Jakku.”

 

“We were so lonely then. But that was before.” She nuzzles her face into his neck, kissing him along his jaw. “Kylo, wake up,” she whispers.

 

“No, I don’t want to. Please don’t make me.”

 

“Wake up, and maybe—maybe we can have this. One day. It may take a while, and it will never be easy. But it can be real.”

 

He shakes his head.

 

CLANK CLINK CLANK

 

“That bird is from Jakku,” Rey says. “It’s not supposed to be here. _We’re_ not supposed to be here. Wake up. Wake up, while we still can.”

 

He grips her hand more tightly. “Tell me a story,” he whispers.

 

“Once upon a time,” she says, and her free hand cups his cheek, “there were two people who started as enemies. Then they became allies, and slowly, slowly, they became friends. They didn’t have much choice in the matter. The woman didn’t want to admit she cared for the man, not for a long time, because it was too hard and too confusing. But one day, in a forest, shielded from harm by the man who loved her, she knew she did. If she could wake up, if he would wake up with her, then they could begin a new story.” She kisses his lips.

 

“Wake up, Ben. Please. While we still can.”

 

~~~

 

Kylo’s eyes opened to darkness. Rey’s body was warm and soft beneath him, but the air was chilled. The glowing cloud of the Gentry faded away in the face of the darkness, the swarm seeking shelter at the top of the trees.

Rey turned to face him, the dreams echoing between them as they stared at each other, wordless. They clung together for a few silent moments.

“It hurts,” Rey whispered.

“They were feeding on us. On our dreams,” Kylo says, brushing his hand softly over her cheek. It was red and swollen with a multitude of tiny bites, as was the skin of his hand.

“We have to keep going,” she said. She hugged him to her once more as they both winced with pain from the bites, and then she struggled to her feet.

He reached for a tree trunk for support and hauled himself upright. His head swam with pain and with the memories of their shared dreams.

“We’ll think about that later,” Rey insisted, taking his arm and leaning into him. “Come on, we have to keep going.”

They staggered in the direction of the city for a few minutes, fumbling in the dark. Rey faltered as the sky grew lighter, the long hours of the solstice sunlight beginning once again. The branches above them began to glow.

“Don’t look at them, scavenger,” he taunted. “Just keep going.”

Anger served a use, he knew. She scowled and struggled forward.

The orange cloud descended.

“No,” Kylo growled, pushing the Force through his outstretched arm, shoving the swarm away. Rey’s power joined his, and they halted the descent.

For a few moments.

Then the sun shone brighter and the Gentry moved in on their quarry once again.

Kylo and Rey fought them back with every ounce of their strength, standing back to back and channeling their powers together. Out of the corner of Kylo’s eye, he saw shadows skirt their position, darkness moving in. It swallowed them up, and Kylo gave in to it with a sigh as Rey wrapped her arms around him once more.

 

\--

 

Rey woke in a room with tall windows and walls covered in pastel murals. Sunlight streamed into the room, but it didn’t fill her with fear. She was reclined on a – what was this? She sat up a little, cradled by the bulk of what must be a bed. It was like no bed she’d ever seen, though. It was more of a blob, for one thing, taking the shape she needed most, and unlike all the beds she’d tried since leaving Jakku, it wasn’t too soft. It was firm against her back -- just right. The light coverings were cool against her skin, not hot and bothersome as they could get, and the comfort overwhelmed her as she nodded back into a dreamless sleep.

When she woke again, Kylo was awake, too, sitting up in his bed, his skin covered in a bright yellow salve. Rey reached up to her face and then glanced at her arms and hands; the salve covered her, as well.

“Good morning?” she said, her voice rough.

“I think it may be night. I’m not sure.”

“Where are we?”

“I think we made it to the city. I’m not sure how, though. Do you remember anything?

She shook her head and sat up, not realizing she was naked until it was too late. She brought the sheet up to cover herself, and she watched Kylo watch her. He didn’t look away. She didn’t want him to. The heat she felt under her skin had nothing to do with healing.

The door to their room opened, and a pink-robed healer strode in. The people of Xla-ta-karia were tall and long-limbed humanoids with lavender skin, and the healer opened zher arms to them. “Welcome, blessed dreamers, to Xla-Ta City. I am Yon-of-the-Bright-Stars, and I’ve been caring for you since the rescue team brought you here. I bring word from the Chancellors that they regret your encounter with the Gentry, but delight in your rescue and healing.”

“You rescued us?” Kylo asked, frowning.

“Our team of Nightwalkers saved you with shadows from the hungry spirits, yes. And now, you must eat and drink.” Orderlies brought in small trays of food and liquid for them both.  “You may not be able to join the crowd on the streets celebrating the solstice sunlight, but you shall eat the special foods of our longest day.”

Rey shoved a piece of purple fruit into her mouth as soon as the tray stopped moving. It was sweet, but lightly so, and the juice cool as it flowed down her parched throat. “Mmm.”

Kylo glanced at her, and then he ducked his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

“We kept you in the same room when you were brought here for treatment,” Yon explained, examining the monitors beside each of their beds. “You wouldn’t let go of each other, and those rare couples that escape the Gentry are not to be parted. You’ve stabilized, though. Are the bites painful?”

“They’re itchy,” Rey admitted.

Yon nodded. “That’s to be expected. You offered them much, and they took what they could.”

From the street, they heard revelry – cheers and singing. “How can you celebrate a day of sunlight,” Kylo asked, frowning, “when the daylight fuels monsters?”

Yon shrugged. “We have light and we have darkness in equal measures. The Gentry stay in their forests, and we stay in our cities. It’s all about the balance. Do you know what I say?”

Both Rey and Kylo nodded. Did they ever know about the balance.

“Um, can we have our clothes back?” Rey asked.

“You’ll need a soaking bath for your bites soon, and application of the next salve. You both experienced near toxic levels of poison, and we know how very uncomfortable you must be. I’ll have attendants bring robes for you and tend to you immediately,” Yon said, nodding. “The officials will visit with you when you are well enough. As we say here, there is no business more important than sleep. Know your dreams here are safe.”

Zhe bowed and left the room, and Kylo scoffed. “I don’t think I want to dream ever again.” His cheeks bloomed red once the words left his mouth.

Rey clutched the sheet to her chest and stared down, remembering the intimacies they shared as they dreamed together. She had nothing to say to him, so she stayed silent, awkward as she waited for the attendants. She yearned for Tillarian tree toads.

The soaking bath was, mercifully, conducted in separate cubicles, but Rey caught sight of Kylo’s chest and back, thickly covered in the prickly bites as he slipped into the robe brought for him. She had bites on her exposed skin and some on her torso, but she had not been injured nearly as much as he had. Because he’d protected her. Shielded her with his body without hesitation.

They were going to have to talk about what happened, weren’t they? Rey groaned and ducked her head under the warm, soothing water.

Kylo sat stiffly in his bath, allowing the medicine to work but not relaxing. His stomach clenched every time he remembered a fragment of dream, the look on Rey’s face in the forest. How could he avoid talking about this? Rey wasn’t one for conversation, so there was that. He could distract her with food, or ask for his own room, or—or—something.

_But one day, in a forest, shielded from harm by the man who loved her, she knew she did. If she could wake up, if he would wake up with her, then they could begin a new story._

Kylo sighed and covered his eyes with his hands.

Their bites treated, they were returned to their room, clad in silken robes and swathed in a new healing salve, one that was a light gray instead of shocking yellow. More food had been laid out on a table, and Kylo breathed a small sigh of relief.

“I, um, don’t want to go back to sleep just yet,” Rey said, hugging herself, but she didn’t make a beeline for the food table, either. She just stared at him.

“There’s food,” he blurted.

“I saw,” she said, nodding. She didn’t stop staring.

He cleared his throat, wishing he could sink into the floor. “I can ask for a separate room. If you’d prefer.”

“I’d absolutely _not_ prefer that,” she said, and then she flushed and scowled (at herself or at him? Kylo never could tell.) Turning abruptly away from him, she headed for the table. She piled a platter with several bits and bites of interesting food and then settled on a small sofa that faced one of one of the larger windows, the graceful spires of the city below them.

After several minutes in which the only sound in the room was her chewing, she finally looked at him, not quite able to meet his eyes. “Well. Are you going to sit with me or not?”

Kylo walked over slowly, as if wearing duracrete slippers. He perched on the edge of the sofa cushion beside her, and looked down at the floor.

“I’m- I regret what you saw in my dreams. I didn’t mean to-“

She cut him off, her cheeks pink. “Don’t be ridiculous. You saw mine just as well as I saw yours.”

Another awkward silence fell between them. Rey shoved her plate in his direction. He took a roll slathered in some kind of sweet butter and sat back a little. She sighed and then looked at him, making eye contact.

“Thank you for shielding me the way you did out there.”

He held the eye contact for a few seconds before looking down again. “Thank you for insisting I wake up.”

“I didn’t mind. The dreams, I mean. I mean,” Rey continued, flustered, “if you didn’t mind them, that is.”

“I didn’t mind them.”

They caught each other’s gazes once again.  The chronometer on the wall gave a Galactic Standard time of 11:58 – nearly midnight and the sun shone like noon.

 

_Clink, clank, clank clank, clink_

 

They both startled forward at the faint noise, eyes wide with alarm. Steelpeckers? Surely they weren’t still dreaming. They looked down. In the streets below them, people marched by banging steel pans with cooking spoons, laughing and dancing as the midnight sun shone down upon them.

When they sat back, with a relieved sigh, they sat more closely, nearly touching in the middle of the sofa.

“Our dreams are safe here,” Rey said, relaxing. “But we’re not dreaming right now. We don’t have to make do with dreams any longer. If you want?”

“Oh, Rey, I want.” His voice wavered with the intensity of his emotion, and he brushed his hand against hers. She captured his hand and threaded her fingers through his. Kylo glanced down and lightly squeezed her hand.

“You’re not angry?”

“Well, I am at the Gentry, because these bites are kriffing annoying. But not at you. Not for showing me your truth. I’m scared. I won’t lie about that.”

“I am, too,” he admitted.

They fell into silence once again, but this time it was not uncomfortable. Kylo shifted slightly to his side, facing her, his free hand stroking her cheek. “The new salve becomes you,” he said, eyes glinting with hint of mischief. “The yellow, though, not that flattering.”

She punched him in the shoulder. But not hard.

“You love me?” she asked, her fist unclenching to tentatively trace the shell of his ear. There were no bites there.

He nodded, panicked for a moment, and looked down at their joined hands. That sense of calm wriggled behind his sternum once again, carving out a larger home for itself. He took a shaky breath.  “I—yes. For a long time.”

For the first time he could remember, he thought that maybe - just maybe - everything was going to be all right.

“Ben,” she said, using his name for the first time she played with his thick, soft hair. “Tell me a story.”

She smiled up at him, and he smiled down at her. He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips as the sun beamed down and all was bright and right.

“I’ll tell you all of them,” he promised.

 


End file.
